Randolph County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 9 of those read), 1882

Education General

ie pioneers of Randolph were but poorly situated for education. Many of them came from North Carolina, where schools were few and far between. Still, even there, especially among the Friends, some schools were to be found, and it was not long after the early settlers had planted themselves in these woods till they began to provide, as they could, for the enlightenment of the rising generation. During the second year of their residence in their new homes, the first group of pioneers had erected a building, for the double purpose of the worship of God and the instruction of youth. In fact, these two things have been, in American history, almost inseparably connected. All through the country, both in New England and the Sunny South, as well in the distant West as in the central Hast, on the rugged hillsides or in the smiling valleys, either the religious meeting was held in the schoolhouse, or the school was '' kept" in the church. For it has been constantly a feature of the Christian religion to welcome and to foster knowledge and intelligence. And not seldom it has happened that the schoo] and the church have waited for neither schoolhouse nor meeting-house, but have established themselves around the very hearths of the settlers. Some wife and mother, more intelligent than the rest, who, in her bright and sunny girlhood beyond the Eastern mountains, had outstripped her rivals in reading and spelling, and who had not forgotten her learning, would "set up a school "' in her own cabin and receive the attendance of the children of her neighbors, and, amid her household cares, find time for the additional labor incident to the giving of instruction. Rude, indeed, according to the modern standard, were these backwoods schools. The houses, the fixtures, the books, were all of the simplest, plainest, most inexpensive kind. A pole cabin hastily erected was good enough for the building. Split saplings, with legs inserted in auger holes at each end, answered for the seats; puncheons were amply sufficient for the floor and the door, and for the writing desks as well, laid against the wall upon pins driven into holes bored in the logs of the cabin; a dirt hearth and clay jambs (or no jambs at all), and a stick and dirt chimney, were "just the thing'? to hold the piles of wood, and lead off into the upper air the smoke from the huge fires that gave meager warmth to the shivering urchins hovering around them; the light made its struggling way through ''sheets of greased paper '' pasted over a space made by leaving out a log along the whole side of the house. Great fires were kept up against the rude back walls by wood supplied in abundance from the surrounding forest, since the older boys would chop and carry for the purpose all needed fuel from day to day at morning or at noon. Books were few and various. A Dilworth's or a Webster's spelling book, a Testament, a Murray's English Reader, or a "Sequel,'' or possibly some stray history, or question-and-answer geography, the Life of Washington or Franklin, or what not, would suffice for a reader; Talbot or Pike, or some still older text-book, on arithmetic, or a slate and pencil itself alone, answered for teaching " figgers,'' while for writing, an inkstand filled with the juice of pokeberry, or oak bark, or witch hazel boiled with copperas, a goose-quill picked up inthe fence corner or plucked from the wing of a goose, a pewter plummet for ruling the coarse and heavy paper, and possibly a ruler itself, whittled and smoothed from a piece of straight hickory or sugar tree, and in one case in fifty, mayhap, a bona fide pen-knife. These things, some or all of them, made the happy school-boy prouder than a king's son.

Such appliances for school improvement seem to the present generation to be worthless, and fit only to be laughed at; yet it is a-fact worthy of food for serious reflection that, by those primitive methods, the active, enterprising, energetic, successful men and women of the past and the present, the fathers and the grandfathers of the young people of to-day, who possibly despise those rude and ancient times; that by such rough and rugged discipline as this did they gain the knowledge and the training which make them what they are und have been. Some of the most intelligent of tie present elder generation never went to school a day in their lives in a schoolhouse that contained a single pane of glass. And the fact is adapted to humble our pride in the gay and costly things which modern extravagance furnishes to assist in '' teaching the young idea how to shoot,'' inasmuch as the products of those meager instrumentalities seem in many respects superior to the results which, coming from our grand and magnificent palaces, sacred to learning and improvement, we do now behold. So true it is, though the fact is little realized nor appreciated that education is accomplished, not by teachers nor by books, nor by splendid and costly houses and appliances, but by earnest, persistent personal action, by constant, laborious, thorough self-development. The poet says, '"Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow,'' and the same truth holds in all human results. Who would be wise, or great, or good, himself must work out the grand result. God and friends and nature may aid, may furnish power and genius and opportunity, but the work itself can spring alone from the head and heart of him who desires the sublime consummation. At Arba and at Jericho, the first scholars were taught in polecabin meeting-houses. In Jackson 'Township, the first was had in the house of a settler, and taught by his worthy wife. In some places, rough buildings were erected on purpose for schools, while not seldom, other edifices, as empty dwellings, old field cabins, or even stables themselves, were fitted up, and the children were gathered therein and taught the rudiments of an English education.

__ Laughable, indeed, were some of the attempts at schoolkeeping in those old-time '' woods colleges." In many cases, "readin' and spellin' '' were the limits of what the school-master dared to undertake. And the books and the classes - they were wonderful in their variety. Whatever a pupil brought, that he used; and no high-fangled teacher nor nosing school committee interfered to '"'shut down'' on the pleasure of parents or of pupils; but, as in the days of Israel of old, 'every one did that which was right in his own eyes.'"? It might chance, indeed, that a presuming youth, fresh from the schools of "Yankee Land," (though such an event was almost never known), would venture, with his armful of books, to enter the school-room door, thinking that his '' Yankee books" would surely '' pass muster '' '" out West." But no; the teacher would examine briefly, and bluntly say, 'Them ar books ain't no use - take 'em home and keep 'em thar."

One of the prominent men of the county gives an amusing experience in this respect. His parents had just come to the West from "Old Massachusetts.'? The boy, perhaps, ten or twelve years old, marched proudly to the sylvan temple of wisdom, with his armful of New England books - Colburn's Mental Arithmetic and Adams' New Arithmetic, those mathematical gems of olden time; Greenleaf's Grammar, Goodrich's Reader (perhaps), Smith's Geography, etc. The teacher, a long, lank, gaunt, ungainly fellow, rapped on the window. The children suddenly ceased playing, and, crying, ''It's books! it's books; " ran pell-mell into the log schoolhouse. School began. The teacher came alony, eying askance the formidable pile of books; and fingering the one that lay on top - " Old Zerah Colburn," he opened the volume, and, leating it over awhile, broke out, '* Boy, take thut ar book home and tell your 'pap' to burn it up. The man what made it did not know what he was about, and couldn't do his own sums." (The work has no answers). Taking up the grammar, he said, '' That seems like it mought be a good enough book, but grammar ain't teached here, and you kin take that home too.'' Next came Adams' New Arithmetic, at that time one of the best text-books on arithmetic in existence. Turning the leaves over one by one, he drawled out, at length, '"This is some better; the man knows how to do about half his sums. But see here; take that ar book home too, and tell your 'pap' to send Pike's or Talbot's 'Rethmetic. Them's the kind we use." And so with the rest. He made a clean sweep of the books, and the poor, crest-fallen boy, chagrined beyond measure that his "' Yankee books" had thus summarily passed under utter condemnation, went home at night (or perhaps at noon) and made report to his astonished father of the reception which had been accorded to the books he had so proudly lugged to school in the morning.

But there were good teachers even then, and the memory of some is still preserved, and their work remains, and will still grow and increase for ages yet to come. The proverb is, '' Good teacher, good school," or again, " Like master, like scholar," and in some cases, even in these rough and unsightly edifices, in spite of every obstacle, and notwithstanding every drawback, teaching work was accomplished, the methods and the results of which would not disgrace the finest and the most costly modern school edifice in the land.

Notwithstanding the wise and substantial foundations Iaid in the original constitution of Indiana, there appears to have arisen in the commonwealth a kind of jealousy against what were call the rich, for fear they might get more than their share of school advantages; and so, in the constitution of 1851, the county seminaries were killed, and the funds which had been previously devoted to their support were transferred to the public common school fund. This would seem to have been unwise, since the uid 'thereby rendered to the general fund would be almost infinitesimal, while yet, under the arrangements of the old constitution, a seminary might by that means have been kept in efficient working order.

Yet so it was, and the seminary, as a county institution, fell under the condemnation of the dear people, and was obliged to cease thereafter forever to be.

Association

terprising gentlemen of Winchester and vicinity (as appears by the books of the County Recorder) in 1827. Their names were as follows: 'Thomas Wright, Jr., William Wright, Paul W. Way, Abner Overman, David Heaston, Caleb Odle, Thomas Hanna, Jonathan Hiatt, Jehu Robinson, David Haworth, Aaron Dolby, John Odle, John B. Wright, Jonathan Hiatt, Sr., Albert Banta, James Davis, Jonathan Edwards, William Edwards, John Wright, Jacob Porson, David Wright.

"We, the undersigned, citizens of the State of Indiana and of Randolph County, being aware of the importance of school education, do mutually covenant and agree to and with each other, to form ourselves into a society, under the name of the Winchester School Association, and to elect out of our body three

This movement would seem creditable on the part of the citizens of Winchester. Hight years or less only had elapsed since that town had been staked out in the heavy, unbroken forest, and very few tailiog had yet made their homes in that village in the woods, so that most of the persons named must have resided outside the town.

It would have been a matter of interest to have discovered the record of the proceedings of this association, that we might have known, who live in these latter days, what those worthy pioneers were able to accomplish. But no record is known to be extant, and we can only conjecture their action.

Before the new constitution of 1851, the school system of Indiana was chiefly in embryo. Many of the school sections were sold only between 1840 and 1850, and schools were few, and mostly not very: efficient. Nearly all the schools were supported (and very poorly, at that) by subscription. Some of these select schools, indeed, were not inefficient; and itis confidently claimed, and probably not without some degree of truth, that the rate of progress in those early places of instruction was far greater than in the ordinary general schools of the present day. The reasons of the fact (if it be one) are not hard to be found.

County Seminary

One thing was provided for under the old constitution, indeed, and, to a great extent, carried out, in the establishment of county seminaries, which might well have been suffered to remain, even to the present day. Almost every young man, and young woman as well, of that former time, who, later in life, has approved himself as aman of mark, was helped to start in the race of usefulness and renown in those same despised and rejected county seminaries. And, had they been continued and maintained in their true spirit, and according to the ideal of their establishment, they would have stood to-day, in general efficiency for the improvement of the whole community, far above anything which the modern graded school or high school of the villages and cities has been able to accomplish. But in the convention of 1850, stinginess, or, to express the thing still more exactly, penny-wisdom and pound-foolishness, prevailed, and the seminaries were slaughtered.

The poor man cut off his own nose to spite his face, and, for fear some rich man's son might chance to go to school at the seminary, the poor cut themselves off from every possible opportunity of higher education which had been within their reach. Rich men, indeed, could do without the seminaries, since they could send their children far away, if need be; but the poor man could not. Their opportunity must be near at hand, or it can avail them nothing. And thus it would have been.

The county seminary, established by public aid, and fostered and strengthened by private as well as public favor and support, would have been, as it were, a means of higher education, constarttly within the reach of every youth who should have the least desire to treak forth from the dungeons of ignorance into the light and freedom of wisdom and intelligence; and the poor would have availed themselves of the opportunity far oftener than the rich.

But so itwas. Demagogism prevailed, and the hen that laid the golden egg was killed, and, as in the old Grecian fable, nothing was found to reward the slaughterers for their murderous deed; so in this case no good was accon:plished for the common schools to warrant the wholesale and remorseless extinction of the obnoxious county seminaries.

The same spirit that killed the seminaries ruled for a long time, and checked and choked the rising desire for learning; so that, for years, aided by the preposterous decision of the Supreme Court, communities were forbidden to tax themselves for the education of their own children, The idea that people can empower their trustees to levy taxes at discretion, under a constitution that forbids them to do the same thing themselves, is ridiculous enough. But such was the spirit of the time in high places. And while money could he spent in all manner of nonsense, none could be expended in raising the public mind out of darkness into light, and in chasing away the evils and curses attending ever upon ignorance and vice. I venture an opinion that it is as unconstitutional to-day to empower Trustees or Commissioners to use their discretion in taxation as it is or was for the people at large to be allowed to do the same thing. But the old-fogy decisions of a dark age could not kill, though they did seriously check, the rising spirit of knowledge, nor wholly restrain the advancing public sentiment of the era; and so the body of the people pay ungrudgingly enormous taxes for the support ot schools for the whole people. Though the methods of application may be, perhaps, susceptible of improvement, yet the public mind of the time feels an eagerness for knowledge and a determination to raise high the standard of intelligence. Especially are the poor beginning to see that, if the rich are willing to tax themselves for the elevation of the masses it is not for them, the poor, to complain or object, since the measure is simply and almost wholly for the specia] benefit of the poor themselves. It has been claimed for years, that, notwithstanding the ancient drawbacks, Indiana has the best school system in the United States. This boast may be founded on fact, or it may not. One thing, at least, is true, that her schools of to-day are immeasurably superior to those of fifty or even thirty years ago. Somewhere in this volume may be found a racy sketch of a '' woods school" in Randolph County, taught by no less a personage than Hon. N. Cadwallader, late Senator, and banker of Union City, Ind., said school taught by our worthy fellow-citizen in the year of grace 1845, only thirty-five years ago. But the sketch is so rich that it will bear reproducing, and we will tell the story again, partly in his own words:

"JT taught in an old log building ina clearing. It had once boasted a (clay and puncheon) fire-place and a stick chimney; but the house at that time had neither, for the chimney and fireplace were wholly gone, and the end of the house was all open. The books were anything that the parents happened to have at hand at the time - Bible, Testament, Marion, Washington, Franklin, spelling book, Murray's Sequel, or anything else; and each one used whatever he brought, be it what it might. School-book uniformity was not in vogue then in that institution, but glorious liberty was the order of the day. Of course, classification was out of the question, but each urchin was head (and foot, too) of his own class."

In discipline, Mr. Cadwallader was unique. One day, he had four undergoing, all at once, on the puncheons, the solemn penalty of violated law. Two were standing face to face, with a stick split at each end, and one end snapped on each boy's nose. One had been thrown astride of a naked joist-pole overhead, while a fourth was stationed, with his hands behind his back and his nose plump up to the wall. Was not all that a sight? The State can never know how great is her loss in not having appointed Mr. C. State School Superintendent, for that original bent of genius would have wrought wonders ere this in the line of methods of instruction, of architecture, of discipline, of amusement. At any rate, such was "school-keeping " thirty-five years ago in our own beloved Randolph, full thirty-one years after its first settlement. Verily, theworld moves. Doubtless our schools yet need '' reconnoitering,'' still they are by no means what they ''used to was'? in the "auld lang since ago." Hence we may thank God for the tokens of advancement that we behold, and take courage and hope for the future. Forty, and even thirty years ago, the ''select school'' was the glory of the hour. Some active, earnest man would gather around him the aspiring minds of a neighborhood, and he would have a school indeed.

We very much question whether the ones we now have could begin to rival those glorious old-time assemblages called ''select schools,'' where every pupil had paid his tuition, and was bent on getting the worth of his money. They needed no spurring forward. Everybody was going at the top of his bent. All that could be done was to ''hold to the sied, guide it and let it go." We have often heard men remark, in later years, that their children did not learn half so much in a given time as they used to do in their boyhood and youth. The statement, when made by boys could go to schoo] only a few days, or a month or two, and they would study with all their might. The '' individual " method, so much in vogue in former years, has its bright as well as its dark side; for a high-spirited youth, all alone, with none to hinder him, would sometimes go half through the ''rethmetic " in six weeks, or even less. We have ourselves known a class of six go through ''Ray's Higher'' in twelve weeks. Now, that was work! It did not take ten years to get '' through the programme," for the young man would not start till sixteen or eighteen years old, and in ten years from that time he would be married and have a family, and would have cleared up forty acres of land. Young folks used to study as for a race; and it did not hurt them, either; they did not stay at it long enough to hurt anybody.

But the subscription school, and the select school, and the pay school, have mostly had their day, and have given way to the public free school, and now the poorest can go as freely as the richest. Forty years ago, there existed in the Hoosier State only the two helps to get "out of the chimney corner " - the select school and the county seminary - chiefly the latter. Ask any prominent man now of from fifty to sixty years of age how he got his education, and he will tell you, "In the chimney corner," topped off by a term in sore select school or county seminary. And, as a matter of fact, more poor country Jads like "Our Cad"' or "Our Tom" attended the county seminary than rich ones did. It is the "poor chaps" all over the country that make men and women of themselves by going to school. Rich young people are forced to attend, and come out dunces all the same. A poor orphan lad, who knows he has nothing but his hands and his brains and his grit to go on, studies as though he were mauling rails by the job, and by and by he comes out at the top.

By the original constitution of Indiana, a seminary fund was created. Certain moneys, among which were fines, forfeitures; etc., were devoted to this purpose. A seminary was to be built in each county, and the fund was to be applied in that way.

"At a called meeting of the Trustees of the County Seminary of Randolph County, on the 7th day of May, 1839, present, Hiram Mendenhall, John J. Peacock and Edmund B. Goodrich:

'* Ordered, That E. B. Goodrich be appointed Treasurer, and that he call on Zachariah Puckett, late Trustee of the County Seminary, for all books, notes, bonds, papers and moneys in his hands as Trustee aforesaid; and that the said Edmund B. Goodrich report to this board at their next meeting.

"The board hath this day conditionally purchased of David Heaston a lot in the town of Winchester for the purpose of erecting a county seminary, the aforesaid purchase subject to the supervision of the County Commissioners."

Board met February 29, 1840, and voted to commence the erection of a county seminary, and they directed George W. Goodrich to draft a plan for a building, with dimensions as follows:

Size, 35x45 feet; first floor at least three feet from the earth; first story, twelve feet in the clear; second story, ten feet in the clear.

Board met March 18, 1840, and directed advertisements for bids for building the seminary, to be put up at Winchester, Windsor, Spartunsburg, Mendenhall's Mill and Deerfield.

Board met April 10, 1840, and let the erection of the building to George W. Moore for $2,300, that being the lowest bid, and ordered that $20 be paid George W. Goodrich for draft and specifications.

June 10, 1841, board ordered the letting of two jobs: 1. Digging well, erecting pump, building privies and leveling yard. 2, Making and fixing forty-nine desks in the school-room. Both jobs were to be done by October 1, 1841.

June 10, 1841, board met, opened bids, and let the jobs as follows: First, to George W. Goodrich, for $170; second job, to Ernest Strome, for $124.

December 18, 1841, board met and accepted, with some slight reservations, the seminary, and ordered the contractor to be paid for the same, $2,200.

Section 1. - Be it ordained that any person or persons who shall break any glass or shall break any locks, hinges or latches, or break or lose any keys, or any of the sash, cords or pulleys, or springs, or shall tear any of the curtains of the windows, shall be fined as follows:

For each glass, 5() cents; for each lock broken or key lost, $4; for each latch or hinge broken, 50 cents: for each light or sash broken, 50 cents; for each pulley cord broken or torn loose, 25 cents; for each pulley spring broken, 37 cents; for each tearing window curtain, 37 cents; for injuring desks, seats, etc., not above 50 cents for the first offense, to be doubled for any subsequent offense; for scratching the wall, etc., not over $3; for breaking or injuring the gates or fences, not above 50 cents, to be doubled upon repetition; for injuring trees or shrubbery, not above $1, doubled for repetition.

The studies allowed were orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, algebra, geometry, surveying, philosophy, chemistry and Latin.

Mr. Farris was an acceptable teacher, and the school grew and prospered under his instruction. Heremained several years, and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Spencer.

Mz. Spencer continued for several years, and his successor was Prof. E. P. Cole, who retained connection for three or four years. During his administration, much was done in procuring library, apparatus, etc., for the use of the school, which, however, was all sold back to him in liquidation of debts due him as Principal of the seminary.

The school, on the whole, was flourishing and prosperous, and did excellent service in furnishing the opportunity of higher education to the youth of the county and the region.

The county seminary plan would seem, indeed, to have been a wise provision, and might well have been continued. Under the constitution of 1851, however, the county seminaries were closed, the property sold, and the avails applied to the general school fund.

During their existence very many youth were aided in their efforts after knowledge. Most who have been prominent since that time, who were then in their youth, attended the seminary more or less.

Schools were kept for awhile in the building by private enterprise, but it was finally sold by the Trustees and employed as a woolen factory by the Carter Brothers, and afterward by another as a wagon shop.

The instructions given in that institution were of a kind of which those who gave them had no need tobe ashamed. Modern educators appear to imagine that before them was nothing, and after them shall be - what? And echo unswers, What? Yet it is nevertheless true that the methods practiced and the results obtained by the gentlemen who presided over the labors of that seminary in those early years were good enough even for an age so fastidious and boastful as the present.

One instance must be given to show that the teachers in Winchester Seminary knew how to perform thorough work, and to make the pupils do the same.

It was the custom in that school - -and not by any means a bad one, either - to have classes examined separately, and whenever any class might chance to be ready, and then to call upon a teacher cf the region to conduct the exumination. Anarithmetic class was ready, and a neighboring Professor was summoned to the work of finding out how much that particular group of youngsters knew about " figures." The method of examination was this:

The subject of arithmetic, as found in " Ray's Third Part," was divided into topics. Each topic was presented under subheads, adapted to bring out fully and clearly its true nature, and the mutual relation of each to all the rest.

Slips of paper were prepared, each containing the matters belonging to a distinct topic. 'The class was numbered, und the Professor, knowing no pupil in the class, assigned to them by number the topics, simply by chance. Each pupil took his topic, and, with no opportunity for preparation by text-book or otherwise, going to the board, pnt the needful work thereupon, and, when his time came, explained, in a clear and connected manner, the whole subject assigned him (or her, since several of the class were females). No questions were asked; none were teeded. The examiner merely sat and listened. In fact, the subjects were presented so clearly, so fully, so exhaustively, that, as the Professor sat gazing on their work, and hearing their recitations and explanations, the lines of Goldsmith, adapted, might be aplied: : And still he gazed, as still the wonder grew, How that bright class had mastered all they knew.

He had witnessed and conducted many examinations before, as he has done many since, and some that were by no means poor nor unworthy; yet he is, in candor, obliged to declare, that, for completeness, for thoroughness, for clearness and uniformity of knowledge, for absence of failure, for lack even of hesitation on the part of the pupils concerned, for excellence in general and in particular, that performance stands unrivaled within his knowledge. Some dozen pupils were in the class, but not a poor one among themall. Half-grown boys and timid girls alike stood the test, and went through their work calmly, smilingly and triumphantly. The author would be glad to record the names of the members of that class as a slight token of admiration for their instructor and themselves, as he feels sure that a group who, in boyhood and youth, could pass so heroically such an examination as that to which they, on that eventful day, submitted themselves, could not fail, in the coming years, to be otherwise than ''men and women of mark"? in the life struggle into which they were so soon compelled to plunge. But the examiner knew not then whom he was examining, nor does he know to this'day. All honor to the faithful, earnest, enthusiastic, laborious, successful instructors of that oldentime. "By the Great Teacher it was said, thousands of years ago, '' By their fruits ye shall know them," and well and confidently may the educators of '' auld lang syne" appeal to the apparent, unquestionable results of their laborious energy in triumphant vindication of their faithfulness, and of their -wisdom and their practical skill as well, in the department of instruction.

Union Literary Institute

After some years of pioneer school work, a new aid to education arose in the county in the shape of the Union Literary Institute, near Spartansburg, and literally "in the woods." There was the green stump of a huge oak, four feet through, not ten feet from the school-room door; and the'immense tree trunk lay there, prostrate, just as it fell, with 'its huge body for the children to run on, and to play over and across. And the boarding house stood above several green stumps, whose trunks had been removed to make room for the house.

Prof. Tucker, its first Principal, and his goods, had been brought from Central Ohio, 160 miles, in big open wagons, by two teamsters from Wayne County, Ind., who went clear through by land to bring the young Professor, bis wife and their infant child, and his few household goods, all lonely and solitary, into the Indiana woods; and to that hewed-log schoolhouse in the forest, and to the boarding house, made of timbers cut and hewed wholly from the green woods, with home-shaved shingles and studding split, like rails, from a tree, with rafters and sleepers and joists all hewed from logs, made ready with the broad-ax, the Hoosier and the Buckeye lads and lasses began to come; and, as years rolled, they came still more aud more, and, during eight years and more, nearly five hundred persons from many counties and several States were at some time members of the institute.

working for their daily food, and living almost literally on bread and water at that? And the more one thinks, the more the wonder grows. Why did they come? But come they did, and for eight long, but happy and fruitful, years, did the work of that school goon, under the shadow of the wilderness, till, from sheer exhaustion, the Professor gave up his task, and pushed still farther west upon the untrodden pruirie, feeling that not for the best farm in the West would he repeat the labors of those eight years, since he felt literally worn out. And well he might be. For months his days were spent thus: One recitation at home before breakfast; at 7A. M., algebra and geometry before school; at 8 A. M., school began, and classes recited solid, without intermission, till 12 or 12:30; school 1 P. M., and recitations solid again till 6 P. M., sometimes two at once; and then at home, through the evening, till 9 P. M., classes in his own room, making fully twelve hours of solid teaching every day. This labor went on day after day and night after night for months and months. Not seldom would two classes come forward at once, and both would be put through their "paces" at the same time. It was once said of him by a friend that he could hear three classes, explain a problem in algebra and read the newspaper all at the same time. This, of course, was a terrible exaggeration, but the labor undergone during some of those years in that forest college was "fearful." These lines are written to-day not in the least by way of boasting, but simply to give the present generation some faint idea of the way in which were laid, in days gone by, the foundations of knowledge and wisdom in the Randolph woods. But the years fled apace, and the last day came, and the farewell word-was spoken, and that dear old spot was left to the care of other men; and those pioneer days are gone, and cabins and hewed-log buildings are used as schoolhouses no more. And the teacher of to-day may be glad that it is so, yet he may beware not to despise thuse low and humble beginnings, for truly, unless those old things had been in those years long ago, when this whole region was a wilderness, the present happy and better times could never have come to pass. The change, indeed, is wondrous; from a rude log cabin, with rough puncheon floor and split-pole seats, with greased-paper cracks for light, puncheon desks against the wall, and huge fire-places, with heaps of wood piled on, sled length, and roaring in full blaze 'on the hearth, and $7 a month, to the comforts and even luxuries of to-day, with the princely wages that now prevail. Forty years ago, it was no uncommon thing for a teacher to go to his school-room by sun-up, and to begin to teach, even at that early hour, those who were already in waiting to take up the labors of the day. Hight hours were the regular and expected time, and that whole time had to be spent, and not seldom, ten. and even twelve hours were put in each day in the work of the schvol-room.

But the question remains still unanswered - Why did those students in those old times flock to that hewed-log schoolhouse in the Indiana woods?

So anxious, so eager, so earnest were they all, that the,instructor could wish the day to be forty hours long, that he might (have time enough to teach his longing, hungry pupils all they desired to learn.

No urging heedless dunces, no pushing, no forcing, were needed. The eager students, hungry for knowledge, had to be rr a to be restrained, lest they should study themselves to

One feature of this institution, unique for those times, was that no distinction was made for race nor color nor sex. Black and red and yellow and white, male and female, have from the very beginning, even to the present hour, been welcomed without distinction to its advantages..

Established by the munificence, chiefly, of some Anti-slavery Friends, and managed by a board chosen from several religious denominations, and of both colors, race prejudice and class favoritism have been utterly banished from its walls. Even the distinction of sex, on which is founded, throughout the land, so widely varying systems and methods of training, made no difference here. Whatever a boy had to do, that a girl had to do. And the same practice the same instructor has maintained through more than forty years of his life, spent in the business of teaching. His motto was and is, 'Give to each and all the ee possible chance, and let each make the most and highest that

And times have changed, also, for the '' nigger college." In place of the hewed-log house, built among the green stumps, now stands a comfortable, sightly brick edifice, that, for five and twenty years, has opened its doors, with no warmer nor more kindly welcome, indeed, than did its predecessor in previous years, yet gladly and freely, to receive the youth of all colors and conditions, both from near and from far, inviting them, without prejudice and without distinction, to partake, without money and without price, of all the riches of knowledge that it has to offer.

Prof. Tucker left the institution in 1854, returning, however, in 1873 and remaining till 1879. After being under the management of various instructors--Messrs. Parker, Housh, Bagby, Smothers and others - the school was for a time mostly intermitted, and the chief part of the landed estate sold, the proceeds being vested in a fund, the income of which has been and is to be expended in maintaining the school. Some of the land sold has come back into possession of the institution, and they own at the present time forty acres, with the schoolhouse, teacher's dwelling and a farm residence.

The Trustees of the institution originally were Daniel Hill, John H. Bond, John Randle, John Clemens and Nathan Thomes, and besides these William Beard, William Peacock, Richard Robbins, William H. McKown, Reuben Goens, Ebenezer Tucker, Jesse Okey.

The school has a charter from the State of Indiana, vesting the property in five Trustees. The constitution of the company provides for a board of thirteen Directors, five of who are them five Trustees, and eight more are chosen by the donors to the institution, four annually, to hold for two years, and till their successors are elected and qualified.

Three of the first board are dead - Nathan Thomas, John Clemens, John Randle - the last of whom died only a month ago. Of 'the others, William Beard and Richard Robbins are dead. Ebenezer Tucker and William Peacock resigned their positions June, 1881. Daniel Hill, John H. Bond and John Randle, of the first Board of Trustees, resigned after having discharged the duties of their positions nearly or quite thirty years.

Of the Beard of Directors, David Willeutts was a prominent member for about thirty years, much of the time being President of the Board, and very active in the care of the concerns of the school.

The present Trustees are William H. McKown, Reuben Goens and Jesse Okey, there being a vacancy of two Trustees, caused by the resignation of Ebenezer Tucker and William Peacock,

The Directors are Reuben Goens, Jesse Okey, Richard Goens, Jackson Okey, Zebedee Bass, William McKown, Levi Linsey, Andrew J. Clemens, Elijah P. Clemens.

One of the fundamental principles of the school is that there shall be no distinction in its management, or advantages on account of color, rank or wealth; and also, that the principles of the Bible as against slavery and war shall always be maintained therein, and that no person shall hold an official position in connection with the institution who does not believe in the Scriptures.

The Treasurers of the institution have been Nathan Thomas, James Moorman, Joel Parker, William Peacock, John Henley, Ebenezer Tucker and William H. McKown, the last-named being the present incumbent.

Much-good has been accomplished by the institution through its slender means during the years that are past, and it is to be hoped that a still brighter future is in store for it in the time to come.

Normal Schools

A few years ago, Superintendent Lesley, in conjunction with competent assistants, ventured upon the experiment of conducting a normal school for Randolph County at Winchester. The next year, one was held for six weeks at Union City, and the next year, two were in progress in that thriving town at the same time - one on the Indiaaa side and one on the Ohio side.

To establish and maintain a permanent normal school requires a strong effort, a persistent purpose and a numerous constituency. Union City, for a brief period, undertook to accomplish such a work.

The attempt was somewhat heroic, and, though the movement could hardly have proved a lasting success, yet, for the time, much good resulted - if not in pecuniary compensation to the teachers employed yet, to the pupils who availed themselves of the opportunity afforded.

Since that time, no normal for Union City has been attempted, but those who would be normalites at home have been left to pursue the even tenor of their way to their respective county seats, to the classic halls of Winchester or Greenville, where the genial, wide-awake Butler on the one hand, or the sedate and sober-minded Martz on the other, will smooth their pathway up the rugged steeps of the hill of science.

Since that time, in each successive season (except 1881), normal schools have been carried on at Winchester for the present and prospective teachers of Randolph County, with commendable energy and thoroughness, and with reasonable success. Some of the teachers have been Profs. Butler, Ault, Bosworth, Marsh, Branson and Bowers, Superintendent Lesley, and perhaps others. The pupils have pursued their studies in these schools with great eagerness and with gratifying success. One thing is probably true, that, while these summer schools may do for those who are simply preparing to teach, yet, for such as have already spent seyen or eight months during the year in the arduous labors of the school-room, attendance upon the normal during six long, hot and weary weeks more will be found to be virtual suicide.

If clergymen and professional men need the proverbial summer vacation, much more do teachers, whose labors are far more exhaustive than are those of either of the other classes mentioned, '' Let the teachers rest" is the cry of outraged nature. Let the people and the teachers hear and heed the cry.

Most persons suppose that institutes are a thing of modern days alone, and they will perhaps be surprised to be told that, thirty years gone by, under the leadership of Prof. E. P. Cole, and with the co-operation of other instructors of that time, enthusiastic and successful institutes were held, not, indeed, as a matter of legal duty, but as a voluntary method of acquaintance and improvement.

Those who were then young, now are old, and most, perhaps all, who took part in those institutes, have left the profession, and many of them doubtless have been called froin earthly labor to reward.

These meetings were maintained for several years, but the removal of some of the parties, and other things combined, caused their cessation for a time.

In 1865, the school law of Indiana was remodeled, making provision, among other things, for the holding of a gounty institute, requiring the closing of the schools during its sessions, and appropriating a limited amount of money from the funds of the county toward its support.

In June, 1865, Pleasant Hiatt was appointed County School Examiter, and, during his term, held one institute. Resigning in 1866, he was succeeded by Rey. John G. Brice, who had the position till the summer of 1871, but held no institute. In August of the same year, Andrew J. Stakebake was, appointed to the office of County Examiner, and he revived the institutes, holding one each year of his term.

In 1873, the office of County Examiner was changed to that of County Superintendent, and in June of that year, Charles W. Paris was chosen Superintendent of Education. He continued the holding of institutes, as also he fulfilled the requirements of the school law concerning township institutes, then first made obligatory by the statute. Both township and county institutes have been maintained to the present time. Thuse in the townships are held monthly during the winter season, and now and then in the summer. The county institute has been in August or September, except one or two at the Christmas Holidays. They have been generally well attended, the number of members sometimes rising to nearly two hundred.

Numerous teachers at home and from abroad have assisted in giving instruction at the institutes, and many lectures have been delivered, to the satisfaction and delight of those who attended them. Prominent among these instructors and lecturers who have officiated from time to time have been Profs. Eli F. and George B. Brown, George W. Hoss, Bell, Olcott, Daniel Hough, Harrison, Butler, Bosworth, Ault, Lesley, Marsh, Branson, Tucker, etc. The intelligence and efficiency of the corps of teachers in the county have been greatly increased during the past few years and the members of the profession show a commendable determination to improve their opportunities to the utmost, and perform the best pussible service to the public and to the youth placed under their care.

County Institute, 1881

A county institute was held in August, 1881, under the direclion of Daniel Lesley, County Superintendent, at the high school building ix? Winchester, during five days. The instruction was given by Prof. Adams, Principal of Danville Normal Institution, and Mrs. Emma 8S. McCrae, long High School Principal at Muncie, Ind. Both these persons are lively and interesting in their deportment and their methods, and the members were both leased and profited thereby. The attendance was good, the numbers of teachers present more or less during the week being about one hundred and sixty.

This was formed in March, 1880), with the intention of holding quarterly meetings for consultation and discussion, and the presentation of essays and addresses upon educational topics. Meetings were held during 1880, but they have been for some months omitted. In fact, county and township institutes, normal schools, ete., take so much time and scholastic labor that the experiment of an additional educational enterprise may well be considered of doubtful practicability.

Funds

The people of this country have, from early times, made wonderfully munificent provisions for the education of the youth. And especially the New England colonies were, in the first ages of settlement, foremost in educating all their children, and wherever New England emigration and influence have gone, their power has been uniformly employed to foster and permanently to establish abundant means of mental and moral culture to the people at large.

But the intelligent and pious all over the land have, from t'.e earliest times, been forward to spread knowledge and plant the foundations of learning over the country.

There shall be reserved the Lot No. 16 of every township for the maintenance of public schools within the said township; also, one-third part of all gold, silver, lead and copper mines, to be sold or otherwise disposed of, as Congress may direct.

The famous "Ordinance of 1787" declares: '' Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."'

April 9, 1816, in the act for the admission of Indiana, it was required that the people of the Territory should ratify and perpetuate the appropriation of Section No. 16 to the use of schools, which they did June 29, 1816.

In the original constitution of the State, framed in 1816, a general system of education is authorized and required. Legislation for this purpose began with the first Legislative Assembly. An act was passed at the first session, approved December 14, 1816, for leasing and improving the school lands.

The original school law of Indiana was approved January 31, 1824, incorporating Congressional townships and providing for the establishment of schools therein.

The system at first was crude, and the funds were yet to be obtained, and their source was but scanty, still a beginning was made. The fund began to.be, and such has been its growth and continual increase that, in 1878, the school fund of Indiana stood at the amazing sum of $8, 974,555.55, and in 1880, probably $9,500,000.

3, Surplus revenue fund, established February 6, 1837, $573. - 502.96. This sum is liable to be called back by the National Government, but, during forty-five years, the fund has never been disturbed.

Thus wisely and wonderfully well has the commonwealth of Indiana built upon the foundations planted by the nation, and in such a princely manner have the needs of the people for intelligence been supplied

The above has reference to the permanent State fund alone, only the income of which can ever be used, and that for no purpose except the payment of tuition.

The purchase of sites, the erection and furnishing of schoolhouses, the contingent expenses of the schools, etc., are provided for by a special tax, and the tuition fund is increased to |

Receipts And Expenditures, 1880, 1881 Tuition, Special Revenue

Thus has the State provided, and the townships, cities and towns piled up the taxes mountain high, that the children and youth of the commonwealth may enjoy the advantages of intellectual development. Such princely sums expended ought to produce immense results - much greater, in fact, than have ever yet been accomplished.

There are now in Randolph County fifty-one brick, eightyfoun frame and no log schoolhouses, with an estimated value of $128,245. Ten of these are expensive edifices, erected with an outlay of from $4,000 to more than $20,000 each, as follows:

Winchester - Two houses, both brick; the first, built in 1867, cost $22,000, and containing six rooms; the second, in 1879, and containing four rooms. *

Number Of Graded Schools

NUMBER OF GRADED SCHOOLS. Winchester - Two buildings, nine rooms, eleven teachers. Union City - Two buildings, ten rooms, eleven teachers, Farmland - One building, three rooms, three teachers.

Spartansburg - One building, three rooms, three teachers. Arba - One building, two rooms, two teachers. Pinhook - One building, two rooms, two teachers. Edgewood - One building, two rooms, two teachers. Lynn - One building, two rooms, two teachers. Morristown - One building, two rooms, two teachers.

Schools ave maintained for a length of time varying from four to nine months during the year, at a cost from the public funds of from $200 to $4,500 per year for tuition, with other expenses amounting to from $46 to $2,600. The salary of the Superintendent at Winchester and Union City is paid wholly or partly from the special revenue funds. The Winchester schools cost per year of eight months- - tuition, $4,621; expenses, $1,376. The Union City schools cost, per year of nine months - tuition, $4,365; expenses, $2,517.

The teachers have certiticates of from six months to two years, a goodly number having been renewed after obtaining two twoyear certificates, while several hold licenses from the State Board. The larger number have been educated within the county, in the high schools and the county normals, though an increasingly large proportion have attended the normal schools outside the county - Lebanon, Valparaiso, Danville, Terre Haute, and perhaps other places.

In most of the schools, all the legal branches are taught, while in many of them other studies also are pursued, as algebra, philosophy, book-keeping, drawing, etc., and in the town high schools, a regular and more extensive course of atudy is laid down and followed, with a good degree of exactness; and each year, some persons graduate, and receive diplomas certifying to that interesting and important fact. A larger number undertake portions of the course, dropping out here and there, not more than 10 per cent ever reaching the high school, and not more than | to 2 per cent gaining the summit of school ambition - graduation.

A sadly large proportion accomplish only a very ordinary knowledge of the common branches, and only a very, very few out of the whole number find themselves, on leaving schoul, equipped in any good degree with the wherewithal for a success. ful entry upon a business life career. This is a state of things which is not pleasing to contemplate, and the friends and promoters of education ought to bestir themselves to find, if possible, a sure and speedy remedy therefor.

A training more practical and a course occupying a shorter time should be furnished, that the great mass who can attend during a number of years much less than the whole, may be educated therein.

Many object to carrying the public school so far, but certainly poor persons, those who pay small taxes, or none at all, should never even dream of finding fault with the policy, since, at the cost of a few cents or adollar, or even at no cost, they have placed within their reach the means of a reasonably thorough and somewhat extensive education. Country school-teaching will long, and possibly always, be a temporary occupation, rather than a settled business, peculiarly adapted, indeed, to those who are ''preparing"' for an intellectual life pursuit. It is, in truth, a Godsend to them, and, on the whole, right well and nobly do they perform the tasks allotted tothem. There exists among the great body of our teachers an earnest and a wholesome, albeit a friendly, rivalry and ambition each to outdo the other in excellence and success in their sphere of action. Much time and money are spent by teachers in attending normal institutes, and normal schools, both at home and abroad, in maintaining township and county institutes, in reading educational journals, etc., etc., to the end that they may be able to rise high in the scale as educators, and to accomplish thorough and successful work. And, indeed, the spirit of ambition and devotion is greatly neces- sary, since more money is spent upon this one thing than upon any other single public interest. The education of youth is, perhaps, the grandest public enterprise, and it well deserves the supreme attention paid to it, and the immense outlay of labor and treasure bestowed thereupon.

The educators and the public are studying with increasing earnestness how to purify, strengthen and perfect our magnificent, costly and somewhat efficient, yet still greatly defective, system of public schools, and to bring to pass that most desirable result - complete, thorough and most effective methods of public and private instruction, coupled also with the most economical outlay practicable of public funds, and especially how to secure to a far larger number a much greater and more various range of instruction during a time more suitable to their needs.

Corporation Trustees

In the Manual are given also (1) rules.for gradation and promotion; (2) township institutes; (2) course of study; (38) plan for grading licenses and wages; (4) powers and duties of school districts, etc.; (5) text-books; (6) names of licensed teachers,

The text-books are chiefly, though not entirely, those issued by the eclectic publishers. The number of teachers holding licenses during the summer of 1880 was 242.

Grammar (proper) extends from the third grade through the sixth grade. Geography goes through the third, fourth and fifth. Arithmetic begins in the second, and is continued through the sixth grade. History is assigned to the fifth and sixth, and physiology to the sixth; reading, spelling and writing, through the whole course. ;

Attempts are being made, with more or less success, to regulate the country-school work by a uniform system of gradation. An effort is put forth, also, to systemize the township institute work so as to make them useful for the purposes intended by the law requiring them. As to gadation of country schools, peculiar anf somewhat serious obstacles lie in the way, which may, perhaps, be at least partially overcome.

Statistics

Arba Graded School.- - The Arba building has two rooms, and for some eight years the school has had two teachers during the winter, though some of the time the number of pupils hardly justified the outlay. Some of the teachers have been Messrs. Bond, Canada, Daly, Brown, Nichols, Glunt, with Mrs. Bond, Miss Green, Miss Teagle, etc., primary teachers. The school is under the authority of the Township Trustee.

Edgewood (Colored). - The school building belongs not to the township, but to the Union Literary Institute, a chartered institution of thirty-six years' standing. It has two rooms and two teachers, one only of whom is employed by the public funds. The pupils, however, have all the advantages of the double graded school maintained throughout the year, and the course of

Farmland. - The town was incorporated for school purposes in 1876. The first School Trustees were J. S. Davis, W. W. Fowler, L. A. Gable, and all the trustees have been these: J. S. Davis, W. W. Fowler, L. A. Gable, J. H. Merridith, P. 0. Hewitt, H. F. Wood. The present school building was erected about 1868 by the Township Trustee, at an estimated cost of $12,000, running the township heavily in debt, which burden of debt has remained substantially till the present time, though indeed somewhat reduced in amount. When the town became incorporated for schools, the schoolhouse continued the property of the township, and it is so still, proving a ''bone of contention " between township and village from year to year. The town school has been held, however, in the large building in the village, the Town Trustees paying a small rent to the township for the use of the house. The grading of the school has been carried on for several years, as far back at least as 1869. From that year, a Principal has been empoyed with several assistants. Those Principals have been Lee Ault, 1869-72; C. W. Paris, 1873; Mr. Atkinson, 1874-75; W. L. Lloyd, 1876; M. Bosworth, 1877-78; J. M. Branson, 1879; J. V. Stewart, 1880; John Hancock, 1881. There are three grades and three teachers employed. The statistics for 1880-81 are given below:

Green Township. - Hight schoolhouses, seven brick. The schools hold six months; wages, $1.25 to $2.50. The teachers for 1880 have been: No. 1, Lola Webb; No. 2, Leroy Dearmond; No. 3, Allen Holly, Paulina Green; No. 4, Charles M. Hubbard; No. 5, Jacob Life: No. 6, Edward E. Gunkle, Millie Blakely; No. 7, David Graham; No. 8, C. A. Rickards. The Trustees have been Silas T. Gordon, Antony Jarnagin, James McProud, Joseph Devoss, Luther Moorman.

Huntsville.--The brave little village of Huntsville has, for some reason not appreciable by the great outside world, made herself to be a ''school corporation;'' yet she has only one schoolhouse, one room in that building and one teacher performing all the teaching in that ambitious "burg.'' Nevertheless, to choose that teacher and to manage that school, three Town Trustees have to be chosen, and they have to choose three other citizens, who must in turn chouse the teacher, and do ''all and sundry" things needful in and about that school building and school aforesaid, that education may thrive and knowledge keep even pace with the increase of population in the town of Huntsville. Why so much machinery must be set and kept in motion to grind so small a grist ''all by itself" remains a mystery. Still, the town of Huntsville sticks bravely to its school corporation, pays its own school taxes and has the luxury of a schoad independent of the '' whole round world."'

Morristown. - The school building was erected by the Township Trustee for the village. It is a good substantial structure, built in 1875, having two stories and two rooms. Jonathan L. Miller has been Principal for two years, and is engaged, also, for the current year, 1881-82. J. F. Deal was primary teacher for the past year, and is employed for the current year also. Number of pupils for 1880-81, 130; High School, 55; Primary, 75.

Lynn Graded School. - A commodivus school building with two rooms was erected for the town of Lynn in about 1874, by the Township Trustee, at a cost of about $4,000. A graded school has been maintained from, that time to the present. The Principals have been Messrs. Bond, Lesley, Marsh, Nichols.

The school is still under the control of the Township Trustee, the town not being large enough to warrant an act of incorporation for school purposes, or, at least, the village of Lynn not } being so eager to assume the responsibility of separate and independent school existence.

Pin Hook Graded School, No. 1. - District No. 1, Greensfork Township, has had two teachers, most of the time, for eight years, and, for a part of the time, two rooms. Some of the instructors have been Misses Jennie Hill, Rich, Cammack, Messrs. Nichols, Brown, Ruby and others. Their schoolhouse is a fine substantial one-story brick, with two rooms. The school, however, of late is hardly large enough to justify a double school.

Ridgeville. - The schoolhouse at Ridgeville is an old frame building, with one room, and capable of accommodating only a single teacher. However, Ridgeville College furnishes rooms

Josephine Sumption, Elias Boltz, 1878; Alexander Wood, 1879; William J. Houck, Gabriel A. Jacobs, David M. Odle,- 1880. The following resume of its affairs is condensed from its catalogue for 1880-81:

Students - Seniors, four; Juniors, three; Sophomores, three; Freshmen, seventeen; Preparatory seventy-nine; music, twentyeight. Ladies, sixty-one; gentlemen, seventy-six.

additional for three teachers besides, so that the Ridgeville ''younkers"' have the honor, mostly, of " entering college" in their '' childhood days."

Ridgeville College. - Was founded by the Free-Will Baptists in 1867. Its first President was Rev. J. L. Collier. The present President is Rev. S. D. Bates, A.M. It has struggled with difficulties from the :utset. The number of its students has been small; its faculty, though men and women of talent and energy, were well sustained on fair salaries till the hard times following 1873 occurred, when the income was not sutficient to pay the salaries, at which time the faculty were put upon the income to prevent increased indebtedness, as did many of the colleges of the West. A few friends, however, have clung to the institution in every struggle, and its prospects appear to be brightening. The number of its graduates has thus far been very small, as follows: Elisha Wood, John H. Sheets, B. Frank Boyer, 1876;

The officers of the board are as follows: Rev. S. D. Bates, Chairman; W.T. Pettyjohn, Auditor; Elias Boltz, B. S., Librarian; M. R. Hiatt, Secretary; R. H. Sumption, Treasurer.

The Executive Committee are composed of the following gentlemen: Dr. A. H. Farquhar. Arthur McKew, R. H. Sumption, Milton R. Hiatt, Rev. Asa Pierce.

Faculty: Rev. S. D. Bates, A. M., President, Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy; Rev. Thomas Harrison, A. M., Professor of Latin and Greek; Elias Boltz, B. S., Professor of Mathematics and German; Miss Josephine Sumption, B. S., Preceptress and teacher of French; - - , Professor of Nati a ie.

ural Science; I. N. Nason, A. M., Adjunct Professor of Latin and Greek and teacher of instrumental music; R. Fricke, teacher of instrumental music.

Rev. J. L. Collier, the first President, filled the position five years with energy and efficiency. The combined labor of superintending the erection of the college building, teaching and preaching at the same time, seriousiy impaired his health, and he resigned his position, much to the regret of his many friends. When his successor, Rev. 8. D. Bates, assumed the responsibilities of his office, in 1872, there were not quite $1,000 raised toward the endowment of the institution. He has since that time carried it up to $30,000, besides raising several thousand dollars toward the completion of the building, the increase of the library, apparatus, etc., etc.

While he has not engaged in teaching, and all the income was needed to remunerate those who were giving instruction, he has not received a dollar from the college treasury for all the labor he has performed for the endowment of the school, but has met his expenses by labors in other directions. It will be of historical interest to state that he instructed the late lamented President, J. A. Garfield, the winter after he was on the Ohio Canal, and persuaded him to attend a seminary with him two years, rather than sail on Lake Erie. Mr. Garfield afterward stated that this was the turning point in his life, and that he was more indebted to Mr- Bates than all other men.

The college is located at Ridgeville, a town at the crossing of the Pan Handle & Grand Rapids Railroad. The building is a three-story edifice, 108x80 feet, with eleven cummodious rooms, besides cellar, and chapel and halls on the second, third and fourth floors, standing on an elevated campus of about five acres, planted with shade trees.

The number of students for the current year is stated to be double that of the former year, and the prospect seems encouraging. Four courses of instruction are presented - Classical, Scientific, English and Normal.

The expenses are as follows: Tuition, $6 to $10 per term of twelve weeks; instrumental music, $10 for twenty-four lessons; incidentals, $1 per term.

Spartansburg Graded School. - In 1875, the public school building was completed, with three rooms, at a cost of about $7,- 000. Since that time, a graded school has heen maintained, with from two to three teachers. The Principals have been as follows: Messrs. Bond, Tucker, Hahn, Bond and Polly. The public school has been mostly six months. The number of pupils enrolled varies from seventy-five to one hundred and thirty. Several times a select school has been taughtinthesummer. Some of the subordinate teachers have been Miss Jennie Hill, Mrs. McCoy, Emizette Wiggs, James Humphrey, Miss Penlan. The Spartanburg school edifice is well situated, the location being a beautiful knoll just south of town, overlooking a delightful valley and presenting a picturesque view of cutivated field and shady woods. Several from beyond the vicinity have, each year, availed themselves of the advantages of the school.

Union City. - The first school was taught by Miss Mary Ensminger, in the fall of 1853. The first public school was taught by George W. Brainard, 1853-54. Next, was a school by J. T. Farson, in the "Bee Line Boarding Car," standing near the old Presbyterian Church. Next, Mr. and Mrs. Osborn taught in the little brick house on the State line, north of Mr. Dixon's. Also, Miss Anderson in a house lately occupied by Mr. E. Bunch, Columbia, north of Oak. Pinneo Case taught in White's Ware House, where Branham's restaurant now is. That ware-house, with all the books, etc., was burned in 1857. During the next two years (1857-59), N. Rowe taught in a building now owned by N. Moore, on Pearl street, and Messrs. Hitchcock and Dady, in a building opposite the former Eagle office. In 1858, a brick public schoolhuuse was erected, the east part of the present main building. Mr. and Mrs. Gray taught the first school in that building, and after them, William A. Wiley, with an assistant.

In the winter of 1860-61, Wright and Russell opened a select school in Paxson's Hall, and Miss Amanda Farson taught a school in 1861. Inthe winter of 1862-63, Levi Wright and wife taught the public school. Pupils enrolled, 168; compensation, $2 and $1.18 per day. Mr. Wright continued till 1864 (April). The statistics of the last term are as follows: High School, L. Wright, $2; Intermediate School, Simon Hedrick, $1.50; Primary School, Mrs. Wright, $1. Enroliment, 201. Teachers in the following years: 1864, Mr. Frash and three assistants; 1865, William D. Stone and three assistants; 1866, J. S. Leckbider and three assistants; 1867, Elias Loofbourrow and four assistants; 1868, Ebenezer Tucker and four assistants; 1869-70, Della Posey and four assistants; 1871, Ariston Dwinell and four assistants; 1872-73, W. B. Page and four to six assistants; 1874-78, J. C. Eagle and seven to eleven assistants; 1879, G. F. Meade and ten assistants (died in February, 1880); 1880-81, F. Treudley and ten assistants; 1881-82, F. Treudley and eleven assistants.

1874--Principal, J. C. Hagle, $1,000 a year; J. V. Stewart, $4 a day; Jennie L. French, Sallie E. George, Martha A. Wilson, Emma A. Marshall, Alice Kemp, Ruth Hutchinson, $2.50 each.

1877 - Principal, J. C. Eagle, $1,100 per year; Lizzie Meredith, H. S. Foster, $2.50 each; G. Reynard, M. A. Willson, $2. - 124 each; Joanna Torrence, Nettie V. Wiggs, Susie Bowersox, Ella Ferguson, $2 each. [Whether there were others we do not know. |

1879 - Principal, Giles F. Mead, $1,000 a year; F. Treudley, $3; M.D. Ozias, M. A. Harlan, $2.50; J. C. Torrence, $2.25; Inez Bartholomew, Bell Dwinell, Susie Bowersox, Ella Ferguson, M. A. Willson, $2 each; Ella Dill, $1.50. Prof. Mead died February, 1880, and Mr. Treudley took the vacant place.

A regular course of study has been established, requiring twelve years for its completion. Ninety-nine hundredths of the pupils in attendance never go through the prescribed course, but drop out anywhere between No. 1 and the third High School year. A few, however, do persist in the arduous chase after their diploma, and succeed in capturing it at last. The graduates are piven elsewhere.

Some efforts are now being made to obtain a library for the High School, but the attainment of that desirable end is: yet mainly in the future. A good beginning, however, has been made, and some fifty valuable volumes have been obtained. A praiseworthy enterprise has been inaugurated here and elsewhere to create a love for higher and purer literature, and with some success. The form the enterprise has taken has been chiefly the celebration of the birthdays of certain distinguished poets, as Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier and possibly others, by reading and reciting extracts from their works, writing essays and critiques, etc. The effect, both in this city and elsewhere, has been very good. The light of a new world of beauty and love and wisdom has dawned upon the minds of the young, and they are surprised to discover how vastly superior are Thanatopsis, Evangeline and the sweet and soft flsw of the mild and gentle '*Quaker Poet's"' verse to the trashy dime novels, or even the blood and thunder stories or the love and murder tales of the Ledger, or the Weekly, or the Saturday Night, or any of the legion of sensational sheets that weekly spawn their noxious brood upon a gaping and astonished world.

The first schoolhouse in Union City was built in 1858, made of brick, with two stories and three rooms. The first addition was made in 1868, at a cost of $5,500, also built of brick, with two stories, two schoolrooms, two halls, a pump-room and an office. A second addition was made some years afterward, of wood, with two stories and two rooms. Another building has since been put up, made of wood, with two stories and four rooms. The main school building as now existing has the greatest amount of school room, with the smallest space of hall, entry and stairways, and withal, the most ready and convenient of access that we have ever seen. There are eight large school-rooms and an office, with only one stairway, one lower entry and one upper entry, both small. There are no halls nor passage ways properly so called. A single teacher standing at the top of the stairs can oversee almost the entire ingress and egress of the pupils of all the rooms through the entries up or down the stairway and through the outer door of the building. The course of study as at present existing may be stated in substance thus:

First Year, D Primary - Reading, charts, primer and first reader; Writing, print and script on the slate and.board; Spelling, words in their lessons; Numbers, addition and subtraction, amounts not to exceed forty. Language and oral lessons.

Second Year, C Primary - Reading, second reader; Spelling, words of the lessons; Writing, slats, board and copy-books, with pencil; Numbers, fundamental operations, not above three figures, signs, Roman numerals to C; Language, short sentences, correct common errors, kinds of sentences, etc. Oral lessons.

Third Year, B Primary - Reading, third reader; Spelling, words in the lessons; Writing, Penmanship No. 1; Numbers, up to 1,900,000, subtraction, no carrying, multiplication to nines; Language, review verb, subject, predicate, make sentences. Oral lessons.

Fourth Year, A Primary - Reading, fourth reader; Spelling, McGuffey's Speller to page 50; Writing, copy-book, No. 3; Numbers, written arithmetic commenced; Geography, Eclectic No. 1, commenced. Language and oral lessons.

Fifth Year, B Intermediate - - Reading, fifth reader begun; Spelling, Eclectic Speller' to page 71; Writing, No. 3 copybook; Geography, Eclectic No. 1 continued; Ayithmetic, men- . hoe written continued. 'Language and ural lessons; no text-

Sixth Year, A Intermediate - Readiug, fifth reader completed; Spelling, Eclectic Speller to page 91; Writing copy-book No. 4; Numbers, mental and written arithmetic through reduction; Geography, primary geography completed; Language, continued; no text-book. Oral lessons.

Seventh Year, C Grammar- - Reading, sixth reader; Spelling Eclectic Speller completed; Writing, copy-book, No. 5; Numbers, mental and written, to partial payments; Geography, Eclectic No. 2, begun; Language, grammar (in text-book) begun. Oral lessons.

Eighth Year, B Grammar- - Reading, sixth reader; Spelling, selected lessons; Writing, copy-book No. 6; Numbers, mental, through Ray's Intellectual ; written, through Ray's Practical; Geography, Eclectic No. 2, completed; Language, grammar continued. Oral lessons.

Ninth Year, A Grammar - Reading, sixth reader; Spelling, selected lessons; Writing, copy-book No. 7; Numbers, Higher Arithmetic begun; History, begun; Geography, physical, Cornell's; Grammar, false syntax, analysis, parsing, composition. Oral lessons.

Second Year, algebra, natural philosophy, rhetoric, Latin begun. Third Year, geometry, Latin completed, chemistry, United States History, United States Constitution. Spelling, definition, composition, declamation, etc., through the course.

Recapitulation--Primary Course, four years, Nos. 1 to 4, through fourth reader; Intermediate, two years, fifth reader; Grammar, three years; High School, three years; total course, twelve years.

If the great body of the pupils could spend twelve years in the pursuit of those courses, one might suppose they would thereby gain "oceans" of knowledge. As it is, one in a hundred 'gets through," but where are the ninety and nine? And conjecture sadly answers, ''I know not where, indeed."

The text-books are as follows: McGuffey's Reader and Speller - new series; Arithmetic, Ray's; Grammar, Harvey's; Geography, Eclectic; Gevgraphy, Physical, Cornell's; Algebra, Loomis & Ray's; History, Ridpath's; Botany, Wood's; Geometry, Loomis'; Physiology, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Steele's; Latin, Harkness'; Virgil and Cesar.

The commencement exercises, May 18, 1882, held in the capacious Methodist Episcopal Church, were of a high order. The graduation essays and orations were well prepared and finely delivered in the presence of a crowded and deeply interested assembly, the music was splendid, the presentation address was excellent and impressive, and the whole performance was such as to reflect great credit upon all concerned in any way therein.

Union City, Ohio. - There had been a school building for many years, but with the growth of the town it had become more and more unsuitable for its purpose, and, after much delay and considerable trouble, the present schoolhouse was erected, in 1872. Itis built of brick, two stories high, being a plain but substantial edifice, containing at first four (but at present five) rooms. For two years, B. F. Stewart was Superintendent. G. W. Landis held the position for seven years, and F. G. Cromer was chosen as Principal during the summer of 1881. Five teachers are employed, including the Superintendent.

a new schoolhouse nearly the size of the present one, which will, with the rooms now in use, furnish seven rooms, and a public hall for anniversary exercises.

The enumeration for 1881 was 440, and. the enrollment for 1880-81, 230. The Catholic School, in Union City, Ind., is supplied with pupils very largely from the Ohio side, which fact explains the small enrollment compared with the enumeration. A course uf study has been arranged, covering about ten years, of which the High School embraces three years. The teachers for 1881-82 are as stated below:

F. G. Cromer, Superintendent /and Principal of High School, $4; W. Johnson, Grammar School Department, $2.50; Miss Fanny Polly, Intermediate Department, $1.75; Sadie Hillard,

The Trustees are A. G. Gribben, President; J. J. Norris, Secretary; H. S. Stockdale, Treasurer. The school seems in a healthy and properous condition, the Principal appears well qualified for his responsible task, and, under his faithful supervision, an earnest corps of wide-awake teachers are accomplishing a successful work.

Ward Township. - _John B. Sipe, Trustee. Twelve schoolhouses, two brick, ten frame, thirteen teachers. Twenty-five employed during the year, sixteen males and nine females. Seven months is the time of school. $2,680 paid for teachers; $700 paid for. expenses. One graded school, two rooms, Saratoga. Trustees of township have been Olney Whipple, William Smith, two years each; D. F. Hawley, four years; Henry W. Fields, two years; Peter Stick, two years; Christian Nickey, two years; Benjamin Clevinger, four years; John B. Sipe, now [1881].

Schools in Winchester. - The first schoolhouse was a log cabin built with the corner ends sticking out. It atuod on Washington, at the corner of Washington and-East, west of Salt Creek. It was built before 1831. Jacvb Henderson was teaching school in the old cabin, when it was burned down, with all the books, odist Church; afterward, in the county seminary; still later, in the brick schvolhouse on South street; then, in anew schoolhouse on Will street; after that, in one built on South Main street. For a time, there were two school buildings, one in the main part of the town, southwest of the public square, and one on the principal street, north of the railroad Bee Line depot. The large brick edifice (High School) now standing, was built in 1866-67, at a cost of nearly $22,000, at a time when labor and material were very high, by Thomas W. Kizer, Township Trustee. The school opened in that house March 9, 1868. Another school building was erected in the south part of town, near Gen. Stone's, in 1879, made of brick, with two stories and four rooms. The cost we are not able to state.

Winchester. - Upon the completion of the graded school building, in Winchester, in 1867, Prof. Farris, who was also the first Principal of the seminary, some twenty-five years before, was employed as Principal of the public school in the new building. Since that time, the Principals have been Messrs. Cooper, Ault and Butler, the latter being now in that position.

The character of the Winchester schools has been gradually rising, until at the present time their reputation is excellent. Much effort has been put forth to provide apparatus, library, ete., for the High School, ard a very creditable result in this respect has been attained. The corps of teachers for Winchester at present consists of Superintendent HE. H. Butler, with Messrs. Bowers and Marsh and a sufficient number of active and efficient female instructors, besides Prof. W. S. Montgomery, a skillful and enthusiastic teacher of the science and the art of music, both vocal and instrumental.

The school statistics of Winchester are as follows: Enumeration, 670; enrolled, 560; average, 435; number in High School, 67; Senior Class, 9; graduates from High School, 32; books in library, 400. The school has a geological cabinet and chemical and philosophical apparatus.

The commencement exercises in connection with the graduation of the respective classes from year to year have hecome an important and deeply interesting feature of our public school system, drawing as they do from time to time immense assemblies to witness the performances. About thirty-nine of both sexes have finished the course at Winchester, only eleven of whom were males. It is somewhat noteworthy that in all the High Schools, the pupils who have continued to the end have been mostly of the gentler sex. At Union City, out of twenty-nine, only eight were of the "sterner sort."

Union City - Two houses, one brick, one frame, ten rooms, eleven teachers, two males, nine females. Total, 51 brick, 84 frame; 185 in all; 167 rooms; value, $128, 245,

Private Schools, Union City, Ind

A Catholic school has been maintained for many years. The building contains two rooms, the upper room being entered by an outer (covered) stairway. . The school is conducted by two female teachers and a music teacher. It is wholly free to the pupils through the income of a fund established for that purpose by Peter Kuntz, lumber dealer, a public-spirited citizen of the town and a worthy member of the Catholic Church. This school is well patronized. The number of pupils reaches and sometimes surpasses a hundred. If the Catholic friends seem disinclined to patronize the public schools, which are supported by public taxation and freely open to the whole community, i' is well, at least, that by the princely munificence of one larp.-

The German Lutheran pastor has for many years maintained a German school during the summer of each year for instruction in the German language.

There ire every summer, also, private schools held in the public school-rooms, for such as choose to attend them. Writing schools are in progress from time to time for separate afd special instruction in that important art.

Altogether, the record of Union City in educational matters has been very creditable, and her schools are reckoned to be in a flourishing condition.

Winchester (1872) - L. J. Monks, J. M. Hodson, Thomas W. Kizer, A. J. Stakebabe, A. R. Hiatt, F. M. Way (account not full), William Moore, J. L. Stakebake.

Music

In the pioneer days, the people found but little time and had small means to devote to the cultivation or the enjoyment of the fine arts - and particularly as to music. The fact that many of the pioneers were '''Quakers" was unfavorable to its extensive development, since that excellent society seem to have regarded the knowledge and the practice of that beautiful art as unnecessary, and, perhaps, even improper. That' prejudice (if it be one) has at the present time greatly worn away, and the minds of the people at large have gradually been awakened to the fact that ''music hath charms to soothe the savage breast;" that so far from its being a sin or a crime, or even a needless waste of time or means, it is in reality one of the greatest blessings to the human race, that the knowledge and culture thereof tend in a wonderful degree to soften the roughnesses of life, and to encourage and develop everything lovely and amiable in the human soul.

The first public movement known to the writer toward a higher degree of attention to the subject of music in Randolph County was a musica] convention, or rather institute, held at Winchester in the winter of 1870-71, by Prof. W. S. Montgomery, assisted by J. D. Boggs, of Huntsville, Ohio, and William T. Giffe, then just beginning his work as an instructor in that excellent art, since grown famous both as a teacher and as an author, and now teacher of music in the schools of Logansport, Ind. This institute at Winchester was the place of his first appearance before the public as a musical instructor. Prof. Montgomery conducted a class in a course of forty-eight lessons, and, at the close of this school, the convention was held for two weeks, having three sessions each day, and giving a thorough and extensive drill in the rudiments and the practice of the noble and delightful art, and ending with a public concert. Altogether, it niay be reckoned to have been a musical success, and laid a broad and solid foundation for the advancement that has since taken place in this branch of culture and refinement in Randolph County. Many of the members of that convention yet reside in the county, and look back to that ''beginning of things" with great satisfaction and delight, and still stand firm and steadfast friends and helpers in this excellent work. A public lecture was delivered at the concert by a gentleman from Indianapolis, whose name is not now recollected, and altogether, great good was done.

Prof. Montgomery has since that time performec much musical work in Randolph and Wayne Counties. He has taught adult or juvenile classes (in some cases both at once) in many places throughout the county, has held some conventions and conducted several concerts. He has taught at Ridgeville, Winchester, Union City, Arba, Lynn, Gilead, Spartansburg and elsewhere, A convention was held at Ridgeville in June, 1874, assisted by Prof. Boggs - one at Spartansburg, Christmas, 1879, and one at Lynn, March, 1881. The schools were mostly closed by public concerts, the one at Spartansburg receiving the assistance of Prof. William T. Giffe. These concerts have been in every case occasions of deep public interest and of great and lasting advantage.

line of labor in Randolph, Jay, Blackford and Wayne Counties, Ind., during twenty-five years of energetic and successful efforts put forth in this direction, and his enthusiastic exertions have aided greatly in developing a pleasing degree of attention to the subject of music, and the knowledge of the science and the amount of skill in the practice of the art has been largely owing to his earnest work performed in its behalf.

In the fall of 1880, Mr. Montgomery was employed to give instruction in music to the public schools of Winchester, and his services have been secured for the same purpose during the year 1881-82. Music has been and still is taught in the Union City schools and probably the same thing has been done in some other places in thecounty. The music teacher in the Union City public schools at the present time is Prof. Harlan, who is also one of the regular teachers of the High School. Prof. Burgett and others have taught music at different times at Winchester and elsewhere within the county.

There are many organs, pianos, etc., in the region, and, on the whole, there is a gratifying and growing degree of interest taken in the subject by the citizens of Randolph, and that interest will doubtless increase still more and more in time to come. It is a fact that may be of interest, although known to few, that, forty or fifty years ago, and for thirty years or more, music, vocal and {nstrumental, was taught through Randolph and Wayne and other counties by a colored gentleman who was an enthusiast in the art, and, for those early times, a skillful and efficient instrugtor and performer. But age and infirmity have done tbeir work, and ''Old Gabe Smith" travels round to teach singingschools and hold concerts no more.

LECTURES. Union City has been very backward in furnishing improvement and instruction in the way of lectures. A lecture system was attempted during the winter of 1879-80 and maintained during several weeks, with only moderate success. The season was unfavorable, the evenings being occupied by religious meetings, etc., during the entire winter. The course of eight lectures by resident citizens was completed as follows: Rev. William Coulter, "Cromwell and His Times;" Rev. E. Tucker, " Liberty," a poem; Prof. Treudley, ''The Heavens;'' Dr William Commons, '' Homer and Siege of Troy;" Dr. C. 8. Evans, " Oxygen;" S. R. Bell, Exsq., " Pompeii;" Rev. C. G. Bartholomew, "The Old and the New;" Rev. H. J. Meck, ''Hash."' The lectures were greatly enjoyed by those who were attendants upon the course, and they felt themselves richly repaid, both for the time and the money expended. The attendance, however, was but meager, considering the size and wealth and culture of the town, and the mere nominal price of tickets - 50 cents for the course of eight lectures. The services of the lecturers were wholly gratuitous, yet they gave much time for the preparation of their addresses, and their efforts were worthy of a better reception.

of home talent. This series was to be historical, comprising the annals of the United States, from "prehistoric times'' to the present happy, peaceful era wherein we joyful "live and have our being.'' The course consisted of ten lectures, with authors and subjects as follows: Dr. Willlam Commons, " Prehistoric; " Dr. Green, ''Period of Discovery; Rev. Keister, ''Period of Colonization;" Rev. H. J. Meck, ''French and Indian War;" Prof. Treudley, '' Revolutionary Period;" S. R. Bell, Esq., " Constitution; War of 1812," etc.; Rev. E. Tucker, '' Jackson and Adams," etce., first lecture; ditto, second lecture; Rev. W. D. Stone, '' Mexican War;" Rev. William Coulter, '" Civil War to the Present Time.'' The first eight were delivered by the gentlemen named. The ninth lecture was prepared and delivered by Dr. William Commons, Rev. Stone asking to be excused on account of the press of his other labors. The last has not yet

(February 11, 1881) been given, as the reverend gentleman has been absent for some weeks from the town on private business. (It was not delivered at all, because he removed from the city.) This second course was like the first, highly appreciated by those who attended, but this time, also, the attendance was but meager, entirely unworthy, as to numbers, of the earnest efforts put forth by the public-spirited gentlemen who spent so much time to please and entertain an unappreciative public. Whether the watch-word for next winter will be the schoolboy's motto - Try, try again," cannot at this time be told.

Lectures have also been delivered at Winchester at different times by distinguished gentlemen from abroad, as Rev. Mr. Fletcher, President Burgess, Prof. Fertich and others, but no special facts are at hand concerning them.

Sunday Schools

Much has been done in this department in Randolph County for many years past, and Sunday schools are held in nearly every meeting-house and some schoolhouses in the county. But we lack statistics in detail upon this subject, and beg leave to be allowed to omit farther statement as to this interesting and important matter. Some information concerning-it may be found in the account of the various churches.

Many residents of Randolph possess extensive libraries. Among such may be named, as known to the writer, Hon. Thomas M. Browne and Gen. Asahel Stone, both of Winchester. There are doubtless many others who own fine collections of valuable books, clergymen, attorneys, physicians, teachers, as also cther citizens of means and culture, have expended much money in gathering valuable libraries. Of public libraries, not much can be said. Many years ago, legal provision was made for township libraries, by which each township in the county and the State acquired a large number of books of more or less value. These libraries still exist to some extent, though they are sadly neglected, both as to care and use. Public libraries, other than the township libraries already mentioned, are unknown in the county. Three small circulating libraries are known to be in use - Winchester High School Library, Union City High School and valuable, and the books are extensively read by the persons entitled to their use, and wisdom would dictate that the collections in question should be greatly enlarged. It is a fact, moreover, though probably not extensively known, that a law was passed many years ago, and is still in force, authorizing cities and towns, on certain conditions, to take stock in libraries which may have been established by private munificence; and money, whether private or public, might be put to many uses less beneficial than to create and maintain public libraries.